Tobacco, Marijuana Exactly the Same When it Comes to Insurance Premiums

Is eating a pot brownie each day to help with your chronic pain as bad for you as regularly lighting up a cigarette? Canadian life insurers say the two activities pose the same risk and demand the same higher premiums from clients.

The insurance industry’s national trade association argues the standard policy among insurers of tacking on increased costs to marijuana users – regardless of whether they smoke, vape or eat the drug – is based on available research. The group also suggests pricier premiums could be due to the severity of a medical marijuana patient’s underlying conditions.

But as medical marijuana use grows – and with legislation to legalize the drug just a year away – commercial producers and advocates are urging insurers to change policies that penalize people who use the drug, including the increasing number who ingest it in liquid form. At the same time, commercial growers are also lobbying health insurance providers to cover medical marijuana prescriptions.